Learn the benefits of bees

March 26, 2007|By Cara Campbell

I found the March 17 article, "Beehive Destroyed at Tamarac Home," objectionable. The hive existed peacefully for six to eight months, with no one harmed, according to the article. Dealing with bees in an inhumane and environmentally irresponsible manner, as the article suggested, is unacceptable.

Although there is a feral bee colony in my house, extermination is inconceivable.

Ninety percent of U.S. feral bee populations have died out. Since the '80s, the number of hives in Florida has dropped from a peak of 12,000 to about 1,000 currently. Declining numbers threaten honey production, livelihoods of beekeepers, and crops needing bees for pollination. Florida citrus depends on honeybees.

That you are unaware of the widely reported, serious global crisis in bee populations is difficult to believe, yet your attitude indicates ignorance. Lauding the destruction of a harmless colony of thousands of irreplaceable bees indicates a profound lapse of journalistic responsibility.

This obliteration, reported in sickening detail, was totally gratuitous. Although attacks by Africanized honeybees (AHBs) have occurred lately, the exterminator of these 10,000 bees did not bother with genetic tests because these were completely peaceful, even in their annihilation.

Besides neglecting the environmental significance of bees, you ignore the Florida Department of Agriculture's habitual lack of rationality. Having done irreparable damage with the citrus (canker) eradication program (hundreds of thousands of citrus trees destroyed, no eradication of canker, loss of habitat, canopy, and backyard fruit), the department pursues a similar futile, destructive course with bees.

Experts agree that AHBs, like citrus canker, cannot be eradicated and must be accommodated. Yet, like the misguided program that destroyed -- rather than preserved -- citrus trees exhibiting resistance and immunity to canker, the DOA wants bees killed. Rather than encouraging wild hives of bees exhibiting resistance or immunity to the many diseases currently decimating bee colonies (small hive beetle, wax moths, Varroa mites, tracheal mites and colony collapse disorder, etc)

Your newspaper is promulgating fear and intolerance of bees. Why? I encourage you instead to improve your readers' knowledge of beneficial insects. Since AHBs are here to stay, would it not be responsible to inform people of the importance of bees and how to co-exist with them?

Instruct children and adults not to disturb hives. If a hive is found, call a beekeeper, not a bee killer. Amateur beekeepers can relocate hives, providing bees a home without profiting by destruction and polluting the environment with dangerous pesticides.

Even if a hive is AHB, a beekeeper can install a new queen. The hive will calm as the new brood hatches.

Encourage people to set up swarm traps if they don't want hives. It's easier to remove bees from a swarm trap than a structure.

If readers have questions about bees, including AHBs, they can do as I did for "my" wild swarm that exterminators urged me to kill. Contact Brendhan Horne, vice president of the Palm Beach County Beekeepers Association, at 786-256-9622 (on the Web at www.beekeeperspbc.com).

I am gratified to know that "my" hive will soon be where they and their vital work will be cherished.

As Brendhan Horne, the beekeeper who wants "my" bees, said, "Beekeepers don't want aggressive hives either. It is no fun even for the most experienced beekeeper to have to deal with a mad hive. So we take steps to make sure we have healthy, manageable hives. If we are smart about how feral hives are dealt with, we all benefit."